China Media Project
@cnmediaproject
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The CMP is an independent research project studying the Chinese media landscape within the PRC and globally, as well as the CCP's media and political discourse.
Joined April 2010
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As PLA soldiers in Hong Kong sweep the streets in a publicity stunt, their commanding officer calls for "positive energy" and is swamped with questions he can't answer, exposing deep differences between HK and mainland societies.
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Chinese social media goes full fury after Wuhan's top leader suggests that "gratitude education" must be carried out among the people of Wuhan.
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"Intra-party democracy" (党内民主) has long been included in the CCP's political reports as a goal for greater collective and deliberative decision-making within the Party. For the first time in 45 years — gone.
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Hang on, Global Times. The proper translation is not so bloodless: "Anyone who tries to do so will find their head broken and blood flowing against a great wall of steel built with the flesh and blood of more than 1.4 billion Chinese people!"
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Just incredible the way they've been working on the MFA website through the night, it seems. Scroll through the "Major News" all the way back to March, February . . . . It's like Qin Gang was never there.
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How does a group go from anti-war activism to uncritically amplifying Beijing's talking points?
@dbandurski
explores the complex but consistent connections linking Code Pink and the Singham network to CCP entities working directly on external propaganda.
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Telling China’s Story, Poorly: Why did four Chinese propaganda documentaries of questionable quality and dubious provenance win awards at minor, as well as fake, international film festivals?
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Xi emphasizes "self-governance." But as we mentioned in a thread recently, the key phrase "intra-Party democracy," with a long history in the CCP, was dropped this year for the first time in more than four decades.
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On the front page of today's People's Daily, Xi Jinping calls for a "Fengqiao experience for the new era."
This refers to a Mao-era approach to social governance that directed people to root out “reactionaries” at the grassroots. Read our full definition:
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"In the shadows, resentment among CCP elites is rising." A must-read from someone who knows China's system from the inside like few others.
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The hottest topics on Weibo right now. Chinese care only about the 20th National Congress apparently. But no one is asking why Hu Jintao was escorted out of the hall. . . The Party decides what is trending too.
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The Truth About "Dramatic Action": a veteran journalist in Wuhan writes for CMP about how the coronavirus outbreak unfolded, and takes issue with the suggestion that the lockdown of his city shows resolve to stand up for public health.
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The conflict in Ukraine is "Russia's war" in much of the world. In many Chinese media it is a "special military operation." In this closer look at Chinese media coverage, CMP documents this official framing, but also finds some encouraging exceptions.
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It's astonishing how quickly misreads of readouts of Chinese political sessions can become accepted truths. Xi Jinping's change of heart? The CCP's "change in tone"?
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In commentary on CCTV after Xi's political report, it was mentioned that the version read by Xi Jinping was not the full-text version of the report. Once the full version is released, there could be more surprises. So far, though, no real surprises stand out.
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It's one of those days in the CCP's flagship People's Daily. All Xi Jinping in all of the headlines, with few options for the poor graphic designer. Each meeting with BRICS leaders needs its own Xi-first headline. 1/3
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Using "so-called" is a rhetorical tactic by PRC state media and the party-state to belittle ideas, concepts, or assertions that are at odds with the ideological values or positions of the CCP.
Read the latest CMP Dictionary entry on "so-called" (所谓的).
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In the midst of bad virus news, we can note Chinese journalists are showing against the odds that the professional core remains -- though having been in near hibernation since 2013. Here is Caijing's latest on underreporting of deaths.
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Until Xi Jinping's banner term is shortened at the upcoming 20th National Congress, this will be a serious problem for shorter bridges.
Slogan season in Beijing, and this one in Dongzhimen just rolls off the tongue: “Spare no effort in composing a new chapter of comprehensively building a socialist modern Beijing under the guidance of Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.”
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Social media in China brimming with laughter and bitterness today over the 3-child policy. Here's a play on 民不聊生, which means "the people have no way of getting by," but in this joke means people don't even want to TALK about having kids.
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With all the discussion of TikTok, Bytedance and the interweaving of China tech and the Chinese party-state, it seems the right time to re-share CMP's translation of the 2018 "confession" by Bytedance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming.
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In PRC political language, “the people” (人民) is a precise formulation. Oftentimes, it refers not to the entirety of the population but only those seen as politically in line with the CCP.
@rhokilpatrick
explains who is and is not one of "the people."
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CMP's translation of former CCTV anchor / citizen journalist Li Zehua's words to state security outside his door before his apparent detention in Wuhan for reporting on the epidemic.
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"Zero-dollar shopping" videos depicting the US as a lawless hellscape where woke politics mean criminals walk free have been going viral for years in China and on Chinese-language media. What lies behind this trend?
A new piece produced with
@initiumnews
.
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The China Media Project is starting 2019 with apparent DDoS attacks to bring our site down. Presumably the problem is our report on China's political discourse in 2018. Message from China: Don't try to read our tea leaves. Here it is:
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In a post to China’s popular WeChat platform last week, one writer bemoaned the shocking loss of nearly a full decade of information from the early days of the country’s domestic internet. Within hours the writer's reflections had vanished too.
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At the China Media Project, we are commemorating the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre with a look back on how the tragedy on June 4, 1989, impacted press policy in China — and how it reverberates today.
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Today we celebrate that rare creature: the People's Daily front page without any headline mentions of Xi Jinping.
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Profound Transformations: An article penned by a virtually unknown blogger, Li Guangman (李光满), and shared across scores of websites, has prompted speculation that China is on the brink of new political movement.
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Topping page one of the People's Daily today -- the release of a new book on human rights by Xi Jinping. CCP really working overtime to advertise its alternative readings on universal values -- including democracy and freedom of speech.
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Abject apology from Toutiao CEO Zhang Yiming is a disturbing must-read on the pitfalls of tech/innovation and politics in the "New Era". Our translation:
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Tributes to Henry Kissinger are pouring in from PRC officials and state media, who remember the former US secretary of state fondly as an "old friend of the Chinese people."
To find out what this term truly means, see our definition in the CMP Dictionary.
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The authorities in China are working hard to wrestle back the agenda on the coronavirus epidemic, restricting independent reporting by media. Goal is to control the source of information, and push state coverage as "authoritative."
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In today's official media coverage of the National People's Congress — a good example of catchphrase creation. Appearing for the first time ever is Xi's "Two Must-Haves" (两个必保): 1) a dependable grain/food supply not vulnerable to int'l mkts, 2) a firm manufacturing industry.
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Yesterday's meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP was a powerful affirmation of current policies on covid prevention -- despite dramatic recent failings in Shanghai. CMP takes a quick look at the language of the meeting readout.
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Watching Xi's new standing committee line up today, and reflecting on changes globally in the past 10 years, it is impossible not to consider that the entire world has forgotten its history lessons.
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After serving more than 15 years as the controversial editor-in-chief of China's most outspoken newspaper on foreign affairs, Hu Xijin (胡锡进) announced his retirement on Weibo today. Other sources say his departure has been compelled.
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Should we call it the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or the Communist Party of China (CPC)?
@rhokilpatrick
delves into the archives to find out when this distinction arose, why it has so recently been given prominence, and whether or not it even matters.
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On the front page of the People's Daily today: "In the mind of General Secretary Xi Jinping, women are the pioneers of human civilization and the promoters of social progress, and the cause of women has always been an important part of the Party and the people's cause." What does
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A single day with no Xi Jinping in the headlines. Relish it, Oh readers!
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Global Times cites "reports said" regarding the supposed appearance of COVID-19 in Italy at early as November, but does not even link to these reports. Chinese state media pushing hard very hard to shift the facts and the blame on the global pandemic.
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The latest bogeyman invoked by pro-Beijing thinkers in Hong Kong, “long-distance resistance” refers to activism by HKers based abroad — framing once-normal political engagement as an imminent threat.
Read
@rhokilpatrick
's definition in the CMP Dictionary.
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Really interesting new piece from CMP's Stella Chen on how loudspeakers in China's countryside are coming back under Xi Jinping as a way of spreading his "Thought" and Party ideology.
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China seems to be in the midst of a concerted push to re-define "democracy" in an international context, likely part of the push for a "Chinese discourse system" and telling China's story. Here is Zhao Lijian at the Nov. 22 MOFA press conference.
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The use of “Xizang” instead of "Tibet" by the GT and MOFA is a move to shift the discussion away from a place name that has come in Western languages to symbolize China’s human rights abuses, and to have toxic associations with wrangling over sovereignty.
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Xi's China has entered a "Great Era" according to official media, which are using the term with a frequency not seen since the days of Mao and WW2.
It's often a coded demand for unquestioning loyalty and uncomplaining perseverance,
@rhokilpatrick
writes.
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A very worthwhile read on big data and surveillance in China, starting with Isaac Asimov.
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Taking to Twitter, state media have tried to ease concerns about the wellbeing of tennis star Peng Shuai. But the extreme nature of the restraints on speech about Peng should be seen as ample proof she now faces serious restraints on her personal freedom.
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Since Li Keqiang passed away, his legacy has been quietly boxed up and filed away. Xi Jinping hopes China can move quickly past his pragmatism and the questions it poses about the present.
@dbandurski
on how Li has been sidelined in death, as in politics.
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Whistling Against Deception: facing a torrent of "positive energy" about Xi Jinping's tour of Wuhan, web users fight back in ingenious ways to keep a damning feature story alive on social media.
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A high-level directive issued by Xi Jinping on the outbreak in Hong Kong has been headline news inside the SAR. But the odd question about these “important instructions”: Why have they not appeared at all in the mainland Chinese media?
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The Art of Rewriting History, a must-read by Zhi Yin (under Qian Gang's direction) about an oil painting that is placing Xi Jinping's father at the center of the reform project, and downplaying Deng.
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This post says that when pigs don't have piglets in the countryside the conventional response is to find out what's wrong in the pig's environment -- and to fix it. Suggesting perhaps the gov't should address other inequities.
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Last month, Nanchang Aviation University announced that it had launched a new center with the China Media Group to use "overseas student resources" (留学生资源) to assist with China's external propaganda objectives. More in our latest:
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Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (张展) formally charged with "picking quarrels and causing trouble" for independent reports on Wuhan and Covid-19 earlier this year.
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End of the workday on Beijing time, and still we have no current edition of the People's Daily, Guangming Daily or PLA Daily. Why are China's central-level Party "mouthpieces" going quiet?
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What Happened in Mingjing Village: David Bandurski looks at yesterday's explosion in Guangzhou's Panyu District, and why it has been swept under the carpet so quickly.
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This month marks 10 years since the last independent film festival was held in China. To mark the anniversary, CMP's
@dbandurski
sat down with filmmaker and curator Huang Wenhai (黄文海) to discuss Chinese indie film, then and now.
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The term also appeared in the report by Hua Guofeng (华国锋) to the 11th Congress in 1977, and in the report by Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦) to the 12th Congress in 1982.
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Extreme efforts to elevate the status of Xi Jinping in propaganda can turn into self-parody, turning the focus on the grotesqueness of propaganda itself. This was one lesson of last week's odd suppression of Premier Li Keqiang's trip to Chongqing.
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Four years since the national security law upended Hong Kong’s media scene, a delicate new equilibrium is poised to be shattered again by more security legislation.
@rhokilpatrick
talks to CUHK's Francis Lee about how the gray area has become unavoidable.
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Politics on Page One: How much do we need to NOT see Xi in the headlines of the People's Daily before we begin to suspect profound shifts in Chinese politics? A cool-headed look at apparent changes this month.
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Beijing has railed against the “politicization of sports" by critics ahead of the Winter Olympics. But the government's own language shows that it views these Games as a political opportunity to tell the official "China story" at the cost of other voices.
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Central Party School foreign relations expert Luo Jianbo on China's "premature sense of national greatness." "I remember this feeling that everyone was drunk and we were alone, that all nations were in decline and we were rising."
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Spoke to the NYT about the recent photo of Xi on touring the countryside. Fascinating parallels to the 1950s. Imagery NOT used for any of his predecessors after Mao, including Deng Xiaoping. Visual supremacy and a claim to historic greatness.
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“Logistically, it's stunning," said one Western expert of the quarantine of Wuhan. Writing for CMP, one veteran Chinese journalist takes issue with this awestruck assessment -- in fact, the most decisive efforts early in the outbreak were about coverup.
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Caution is in order as many observe a change in "tone" in the Chinese media regarding Ukraine. This is not a simple flip of the switch -- even if we see more attention to Ukraine. 2 top stories on Xinhua right now . . . .
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No big surprise: posts by U.S. Embassy Beijing on Trump visit in Asia are deleted from Weibo
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A must-read analysis by Qian Gang on Xi Jinping's enthusiasm for the "parallelism" (排比句), and why this matters. One might smile at the absurdity, but in the end this is not funny.
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Last month a virtually unknown blogger named Li Guangman made headlines declaring China was undergoing a "profound revolution" under Xi Jinping. In his latest post, he praises the detention of a prominent journalist and chilling new rules for the media.
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@bill_hayton
Very interesting observation here about media frames and how they stick. The ubiquity of China's propaganda frames in the Chinese media can also impact where foreign media choose to focus.
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When Propaganda Bites Back: a look at what is now being called the "'gratitude education' incident," a full-blown public opinion crisis in China -- and a translation of related internal propaganda directions.
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As Xi Jinping's Moscow trip sent tremors across the world, back home censors were busy expunging a TV personality's call to retake the vast territories China lost to Russia in unequal treaties.
In an era of revanchism, the topic remains a revealing taboo.
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Page 9 of today's People's Daily has a huge piece on "Chinese-style modernization" and the Chinese Communist Party's supposed creation of a "new form of civilization." Great context in
@rhokilpatrick
's recent deep-dive into China's use of "civilization."
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What does it mean to have ideals in a context where you are constrained? To behave ethically and professionally in a media landscape that does not value truthfulness?
@rhokilpatrick
talks to Emily Chua about the "alternate ethics of Chinese journalism."
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Certainly, the language of the CCP can be mystifying. But the way this article trades on the idea that there are professional secrets to be carefully applied by CCP discourse safecrackers is just silly. It takes attention, time, and many dedicated years. And . . . caution.
Stunning how Toy Reid of South Carolina, who clearly has a gift for languages, could decipher Chinese official documents that a native Mandarin speaker "can't really follow"
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I take some issue with this report calling WeChat "massively popular," since it is not a simple choice among diverse options. But very true that it is a massive surveillance tool.
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Today is the 15th anniversary of XJP's "two mountains theory" of environmental protection and sustainable development. But in fact the watershed moment being celebrated never happened. A fascinating look at how histories are made in CCP discourse.
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With a US Senate debate on TikTok and national security on the horizon, some have asked whether the app's parent company, ByteDance, is under Beijing's thumb.
An abject, deeply political apology six years ago by its CEO cuts right through the questions.
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When China dramatically reversed its "zero Covid" policy, experts who had backed it for years changed their tunes overnight.
The before-and-after contrasts beg the question: How can health experts be trusted when politics leads their science by the nose?
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Xi Jinping spoke this week of the need for "struggle." In fact, "struggle" has been a constant term through the Xi era, in echoes of pre-reform period.
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Our latest in the CMP Dictionary: "main melody" (主旋律), a term describing activity in the cultural sphere, that sticks to the main political line of the CCP, ensuring the Party’s voice is dominant and leads the chorus.
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Rude cabin crew, Songkran celebrations, and organ donation withdrawals… What do all these things have in common? According to Hong Kong authorities, they’re all forms of “soft resistance” — a term that has increasingly been used to denounce indirect attempts to express
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China is now fully riding the wave of overseas misfortune over the Covid-19 epidemic to claim the superiority of the Chinese system, glory and victory.
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Announcing a 2-month action to clean up content on social media and streaming services, China says the goal is to protect youth. But statements earlier this year point to one clear purpose -- paving the way for the CCP's 20th National Congress.
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There was a rare moment when the People's Daily WAS the people's daily, reporting the real voices of teachers, parents and others concerned about the fate of the students — and supportive of their ideals. Below, on page 2 of the May 18, 1989, edition journalists from the paper
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We compiled a list of Chinese and English versions of past CCP political reports. You're welcome.
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When 29 people died in a fire at Beijing’s Changfeng Hospital this week, it took eight hours for the news to break. How can this delay be explained in a national capital of over 21 million?
@initiumnews
spoke to journalists covering the story to find out.
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Who was the top columnist last year in the CCP's official Seeking Truth journal? None other than the general secretary, Xi Jinping. Elinor Zhou takes an in-depth look at this important trend.
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The CASS study on migrant sentiment in China helps explain the forced removals we saw last fall in Beijing and other cities. A Beijing scholar told me last month that the primary concern was the potential for urban unrest by rural populations.
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Fascinating investigation by
@schoenmakersk
into a bizarre case of faking global influence for positive China content. . . Including fake festivals like the "Atlanta Award-Qualifying Festival," shown here with fake photo of a crowded theater. Original image from Russia.
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The views put forth by a range of Chinese scholars at a recent discussion forum in Beijing hosted by the Center on China and Globalization offer a glimpse into strategic discussions of public diplomacy and propaganda in the country's think-tank sector.
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It's well past time for international media and experts to register and share greater skepticism over China's reporting of infection numbers. China tends, by virtue of its (mis)information obsessed system, to get exactly the numbers it wants.
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@PMCroninHudson
These are "Police," clearly labelled as such. But not clear when this was taken, or what the source is, or whether it's significant in any way. As a rule, suspend speculation until source is known.
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Authorities in China call for shredding and incineration of a legal journal's entire print run after a Xi buzzword is misplaced in a headline.
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The draft of a new legal amendment criminalizing speech or dress that “hurts the feelings of the Chinese nation” has attracted a torrent of criticism online. Against the backdrop of rising nationalist sentiment in China, has Beijing overstepped the mark?
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A post by the British Embassy in Beijing on China's WeChat platform today responded point-by-point to misinformation in state media on Hong Kong. The post was taken down. Our summary and translation.
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Today is June 4, the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Here is our look back on how that tragedy shaped the media and information policy in China today.
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What is "Runology" 润学？ A term very relevant this spring as frustrations build over lockdowns and economic pain.
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